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SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 90 - sthUlah.

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champakam • June 27, 2003 


     SrI vishNu sahasra nAmam - Slokam 90 - sthUlah.

842. sthUlah – a) He Who is immense.
	b) He Who grows or enhances enormously the wealth of His 
devotees.

Om sthUlAya namah.

The root from which the nAma can be derived is sthUl – paribRhamaNe – 
to become big or stout, grow bulky or fat.  Note that the previous 
nAma was kRSah – One Who can become as lean or thin as He wishes.  
Now we have the nAma that describes the aiSvarya of His ability to 
become as big as He wishes.  

a) SrI BhaTTar comments that since bhagavAn has the ability to touch 
any object in any world even while standing in one place, He has the 
nAma sthUlah.  The trivikrama incarnation is an obvious illustration 
of His aiSvarya called prApti, that is reflected in this nAma – 
sthUlah.  SrI v.v. rAmAnujan gives references to nammAzhvAr – tAL 
parappi maN tAviya ISan (tiruvAi. 3.3.11), and to ANDAL's tiruppAvai –
 O'ngi ulagaLanDa uttaman.  

SrI vAsishTha quotes the mantra from ISAvAsya Upanishad in support:

	anejadekam manaso javIyo naiand-deva Apnuvan pUrvamarshat    |
	 tad-dhAvato'nyAnatyeti tishThat tasminnapo mAtariSvA 
dadhAti   ||  (ISA.  4)

"The paramAtman is unmoving;  The One without an equal;  swifter than 
the mind.  The gods have not attained It, even though It has reached 
them.  Remaining stationary, It overtakes others who run ahead of 
It.  By It vAyu bears water".

He also quotes the purusha sUkta mantram in support:

	sahasra SirshA purushah;  sahasrAkshah sahasra pAt  |
	sa bhUmim viSvato vRtvA atyatishThat daSA'ngulam    ||

"He is One with countless heads, countless eyes, and countless feet.  
He pervades all space, and it is not possible to measure His extent 
by our ordinary knowledge of means of measurement".

SrI Sa'nkara's vyAkhyAnam is – sarva AtmakatvAt sthUlah iti 
uapacaryate – Because He is the Soul of everything, He is 
figuratively called sthUlah or `Huge".  

SrI baladeva vidyA bhUshaN gives the explanation – koTi brahmANDa 
vigrahatvaAt stUlah – Since bhagavAn is in the form of the infinite 
brahmANDa-s or Universes, He is stUlah. 

SrI rAdhAkRshNa SAstri comments that as a consequence of His aiSvarya 
or power of being aNu, bRhat, kRSah, sthUlah, etc., at will, no one 
can comprehend Him from one moment to the next.  SrI SAstri draws 
attention to the similarity of this nAma to the nAma `sthavishTha  
(53 and 437, Sloka-s 6 and 47).  The similarity arises 
because `sthavishThah' is made of the words `sthUla' and `ishTha', 
giving as one of the meanings  "He Who has Willed to be huge".   
Among the other interpretations for the nAma sthavishTha are that 
bhagavAn manifests Himself in the form of the huge brahmANDa, the 
huge constellation of stars and galaxies, etc.  

b) SrI kRshNa datta bhAradvAj gives the interpretation – sthUlayati 
bRmhayati svajana sampadam iti sthUlah – He Who grows or enhances 
enormously the wealth of His devotees, is sthUlah.  Note that 
the `wealth' for the devotees can be in the form of their enjoyment 
in performing kainkaryam to Him and to His devotees in this world, 
and need not necessarily refer to material wealth only.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan



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